1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technology in which a light source of a light irradiator emitting light which cures photocurable liquid from the light source is cooled down in an image recording apparatus which records an image on a recording medium using ejecting heads which eject the liquid.
2. Related Art
In JP-A-2010-000735, a printer which includes printer heads ejecting ultraviolet (UV) ink which is cured by being irradiated with UV rays, and a light source unit which radiates UV rays to UV ink which is landed on a printing medium is disclosed. The light source unit cures the UV ink by radiating the UV rays to the printing medium by emitting the UV rays from a light source facing the printing medium. In addition, the light source unit includes a fan which is arranged so as to face the light source, and suppresses a temperature rise in the light source by cooling down the light source using wind which is generated by the fan. In this manner, it is possible to suppress a change in illuminance of the light source which is caused by the temperature rise, and to stabilize the illuminance of the light source.
Meanwhile, in the image recording apparatus, the light source is cooled down by arranging the fan so as to face the light source, and causing wind which is generated by the fan to get to the light source directly. In such a configuration, it is preferable that the fan be arranged so as to be close to the light source, and to cause wind which is generated by the fan to get to the light source reliably, in order to efficiently cool down the light source. However, there has been a case in which, when the fan is set to be close to the light source, warm air in the vicinity of the light source is sent to the light source by the fan, and as a result, it is difficult to improve cooling efficiency of the light source.